Original news and analysis on international IP policy
On 5 November, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could undermine America’s ability to carry out its treaty obligations. The case casts a shadow over the country’s power to implement a wide variety of international agreements, including trade and intellectual property agreements.
For years, the developed countries that own the vast majority of the world’s patents - and therefore pay the majority of the revenues of the World Intellectual Property Organization – have looked unsuccessfully for a way to increase harmonisation of the global patent system through the UN agency. Developed countries have moved forward on their own, while WIPO is taking a gentle approach, encouraging member states “look below the headline issue” to a more “granular” level.
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – An industry-government conference here last week captured the high spirit of innovation in South Africa, and discussed ways in which intellectual property rights play a role in the effort.
As a bill aimed at curbing patent “trolls” and frivolous patent lawsuits makes its way through the United States Congress and states fight their own troll battles in the name of consumer protection, some patent attorneys and stakeholder groups want lawmakers to slow down and take a breath.
A study emphasising the positive effect of the patent system on the public domain was presented this week by two of its co-authors as a side event to the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on development.
NEW YORK - Anyone who depends on - and cares about – the American patent system needs to make some noise to their representatives in Congress and protest a potentially “awful” piece of legislation that has wide support, a popular US patent judge said this week.
Global health diplomacy was the subject of a symposium organised by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute this week. The symposium explored the crossing lines between health diplomacy and science diplomacy, in particular how can diplomacy facilitate international scientific cooperation in health. This week was also the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization protocol against illicit trade in tobacco products.
The World Intellectual Property Organization today issued its second-ever report on global IP trends, focussing on brands, the relevance of reputation, and image in the global marketplace. Increases in trademark applications and the global value of brands are presented in the report, which looks at economic impact, competition, and concerns over counterfeiting of brands.
Licences for Europe, a European Commission-launched stakeholder dialogue intended to make more copyright-protected content available online, ended today with some concrete proposals but also some criticism. The exercise - which focussed on cross-border access and portability of services, user-generated content and micro-licensing, audiovisual cultural heritage, and text and data mining - brought applause from book publishers and commercial broadcasters, but complaints from civil society groups and internet companies.
The US Supreme Court yesterday let stand an important appellate court ruling on copyright law, giving a boost to artists who repurpose others’ works and to supporters of fair use rights. This decision, however, upset many copyright owners, who fear it will allow their works to be used without payment and without their consent.